A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT SAILOR'S POEM AND THE NARRATION OF PROPHET YUNUS BASED ON KIERKEGAARD'S EXISTENTIALIST THOUGHT

Аннотация

This research, with a comparative approach, examines the existentialist manifestations in the poem "The Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Coleridge and the Quranic narrative "Prophet Yunus" based on the philosophical components of Søren Kierkegaard. The starting point of this research is the analysis of the concrete situation of the main characters in the face of the fundamental concepts of "despair", "darkness", "loneliness" and "fear", which ultimately leads to the experience of the transition from anxiety to "absolute faith". This research attempts to show how "The Mariner" and "Yunus" are driven towards a transcendent meaning in a context of existential crisis, with the collapse of external structures and the encounter with emptiness. The findings of the research indicate that both works, while representing ontological pains, depict the evolution of the "self" from a state of suspense and fear to the affirmation of faith and liberation from existential isolation. This research seeks to answer these questions using a descriptive-analytical method: 1- How are Kierkegaard's existentialist components, including despair, loneliness, and fear, reflected in the narrative structure of "The Ancient Mariner" and the narrative of "Jonah"? 2- What are the fundamental similarities and differences between the transition from a state of anxiety and fear to “absolute faith” in the lived experience of the sailor and Prophet Jonah? The research findings indicate that there seems to be a structural similarity between the sailor’s distress in facing the sea and the suffering of Prophet Jonah in the belly of the whale in the components of darkness and loneliness that lead both characters to accept existential responsibility and return to the sacred. It is assumed that faith in both works is not a passive refuge, but the result of a conscious passage from “absolute hopelessness” and “existential fear” that, in accordance with Kierkegaard’s model, guides the individual from the false self to the realization of the “authentic self.”